Ares Management closes on major pan-European office portfolio

Office portfolio

The fund is already 16% committed, with 8 investments made, including an office building in Paris, a retail park in Italy, logistics assets in Denmark, an office building in Milan, two credit deals to a German and a UK borrower respectively, a hotel in Germany and offices in Norway.

Los Angeles-based asset manager Ares Management has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of seven office properties totaling 159,000 sqm located in major cities in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland, through funds managed by its real estate group. The company declined to say how much it paid.

The acquisition was made by funds managed by Ares’ real estate group, and gives the firm diversified assets in Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Vienna, Rotterdam and Helsinki. It is Ares’ fifth real estate acquisition in Europe in recent years, the company said.

James Piper, partner in the Ares Real Estate Group, said the deal underlined Ares' ability to rapidly close on complex deals, including outside its home turf.

'This portfolio adds to our array of high-quality properties in major European cities - and in particular Germany – where we continue to see tightening supply and strong occupational demand in the office markets,' Piper added.

Ares recently raised €625m for its latest value-added/ opportunistic European flagship fund, Ares European Real Estate Fund V. The publicly-traded company invests in credit, private equity and real estate, and manages $106.4 billion in total global assets across 18 offices in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia.